Hindu Samiti members force shut meat shops in city, beat up man in Sector 14Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti takes out rally, top cop says nobody will be allowed to disrupt peaceAnyone can say anything, but I would never allow anyone to hamper the law and order situation of the city. Even today, we filed an FIR and arrested four people (who caused trouble).KK RAO , police commissionerI was standing outside the shop when the rally passed by. Suddenly, about four people rushed into the shop and asked me why the shop was open. Then they asked me to close the shop and started beating me.MAHINDER, attack victim

GURUGRAM: Four members of an umbrella body of 22 Hindu groups were arrested on Wednesday, after an employee at a meat shop was beaten up during a protest rally on Wednesday, the police said. The four were later released on bail.

An FIR was filed at the Sector

14 police station under sections for assault, criminal intimidation and rioting of the Indian Penal Code after the incident took place in Sanjay Gram Colony in Sector

13, Subhash Boken, Gurugram police spokesperson, said.

The Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti (SHSS) Gurugram, of which the Shiv Sena, the VHP, the Hindu Sena and others are a part, said they were getting meat shops along the way closed during the rally organised on the first day of Navratri.

The Hindu groups have been asking for the meat shops to remain closed during Navratri festivities, which will go on till October 18. In a letter submitted to deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh on Tuesday demanding the closure of such shops, the Gurugram unit of the Shiv Sena had stated, “...else Shiv Sena would forcefully close them (meat shops) and the shopkeeper would be responsible for his loss...”

The SHSS had said in a written statement on Tuesday that they had decided to close the meat shops themselves, after the district administration failed to act on their request.

“We found the meat shops open for business. We slapped the owners a couple of times,” Rajeev Mittal, one of the core members of the SHSS, said on Wednesday. Meat shops were closed in many places for most part of the day, either voluntarily by the owners or forcefully by the Hindu groups.

Mittal said they had divided the city into 10 zones. Ten teams of 25-30 members each had been formed to make sure that no meat shop was opened. The rally of SHSS members, on motorcycles and foot, started from Sheetla Mata Mandir in Sector 5 and ended at a market near Jama Masjid in Sadar Bazar passing through CRPF Chowk and Bus Stand.

“I was standing outside the shop when the rally was passing by. Suddenly, about four people rushed into the shop and asked me why the shop was open. Then they asked me to close the shop and started beating me,” 45-yearold Mahinder, the victim, said .

When asked why the SHSS was allowed to take out a rally despite the written threats, KK Rao, Gurugram police commissioner said, “Anyone can say anything, but I would never allow anyone to do anything to hamper the law and order situation of the city. Today also when there was a problem, we filed an FIR and arrested four people.”

Rao said the SHSS had not taken permission for the rally.

DHABAS SHUT TOO

Three dhaba owners near CRPF Camp Chowk close to Sheetla Mata Mandi said their outlets were forcefully closed by people who were part of the SHSS rally, and one of them alleged that his employer was beaten up.

“We have not received any such complaint. We will take action if anyone comes forward,” Rao said.

At least three more dhabas were allegedly closed in the area by the rally members, according to locals in the area.

The rally — from the beginning till the end — was accompanied by at least one PCR van, multiple eyewitnesses said. The police also said that most of the rally was video-recorded and action would be taken against troublemakers.

“They slapped a 48-year-old man multiple times, poured water into a chulha used for making rotis, threatened to put the shop on fire, if it was reopened,” Mohammad Hamid, 28, said, describing how some protesters acted at his dhaba. The dhaba owners had put up “Pure Veg” banners outside their shops. Two of them said they had put up the banners much before the rally passed by, and yet their dhaba was forcefully closed.

Pointing to two vessels inside his kitchen, Hamid said, “This is 50kg of dough and that is the vegetable I had made for the day. Everything is wasted. I have to pay ₹1,100 as daily rent and I have six workers. My loss today is more than ₹7,000.”

Gautam Saini, district president of the Shiv Sena, said, “It might have happened accidentally, I don’t know. We had asked the boys to only close dhabas selling non-vegetarian food.”

Mittal denied that any dhaba was vandalised or worker was beaten.

The Samiti said that they would shut meat shops on Thursday as well. The group has called a meeting at 11am on Thursday to plan the course of action for the remaining eight days of Navratri